Maritime History Highlights

Aberdeen's long association with the sea is represented in the maritime history collection, from trade in the 1500s to the modern service industries supporting the Maritime extraction of oil. We still collect objects and stories from Aberdeen’s maritime history and modern-day maritime industries. Models As we don’t have the space to store and display full-sized ships and oil platforms, we often relay on ship models to get a feel for the shape and layout of maritime vessels and structures. Many models were created by ship owners to display in their offices, or by ship builders and engineers to ensure a design on paper was correctly translated into 3D. This half-hull model, so called because it shows it half of the ship’s hull (the main body of the ship) in profile, shows the first St. Sunniva, a steam yacht built by Hall, Russell in Aberdeen in 1887. It was the first modern purpose-built cruise ship, ordered by the Aberdeen- based North of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company, which began operating cruises between Scotland and Norway. It is an example of a ‘presentation’ model, which were produced by the shipyard either as a gift to customer of the ship itself or displayed at trade shows or the offices of the shipbuilding firm to demonstrate its capabilities. This model is known as the Schip, an important spelling as it alludes to its Dutch origins. In 1689, the shipmaster Alexander Mackie brought the model from the Netherlands and donated it to the Aberdeen Shipmaster Society, a benevolent organisation founded in 1598. It was originally put on display in front of the Seaman’s Loft in the Kirk of St. Nicholas and has been described as a votive model, that is a ship model placed in a church, usually hung in the knave of a church, as a fulfilment of a vow, and a symbol of thanks to the heavens for safe passage at sea. The model of the Murchison oil production platform is the centrepiece to the Maritime Museum. The top of the model, known as the ‘topside’ is an engineering model dating to the late 1970s, used to help design the platform. These models were proving models, if the model makers could not make it without clashes in the intricate network of pipes and valves, then the fabrication yard would have the same problem. Near to Land This photograph shows Christina Lovie Burnett, one of the last Aberdeen fishwives. Born in Buchanhaven, Peterhead in 1874, she married an Aberdonian and settled in Old Torry. She would purchase fish from a female fish merchant called ‘Babby Anne’ Nicol and carry it in her creel, which can be seen strapped to her back. She would sell the fish throughout the week in villages on the outskirts of Aberdeen. Her creel is on display in the Maritime Museum. This wooden paddle would have been used to travel in a currach, otherwise known as a coracle, a small round lightweight boat traditionally navigated by one person. We believe it dates to between 1200-1300. It was uncovered in an archaeological excavation in Aberdeen city centre and was probably used to travel across Aberdeen harbour for transport or fishing for salmon, or both. Life at Sea This bottle came from a medical chest of an Aberdeen fishing vessel and was found on the coast of Hoy. It contains a mixture for treating a case of diarrhoea or ‘derangements of the bowels’ a regular ailment aboard fishing boats. It was one of a number of items in the chest that were supplied by Dickies in Torry. The practical use of a ship’s bell was to be struck every half hour to indicate the passing of time and indicate to the different ‘watches’ on duty the times of their shifts. A ship’s bell often survives long after the ship’s lifetime and is likely to be rescued and collected as a tangible reminder of the vessel, especially as the name of the ship is usually engraved on it. The Sir William Hardy built by Hall, Russell in 1955 was the first diesel-electric trawler to be built in the UK and carried a crew of 16 operating as part of the Torry Research Station, involved in fisheries research. The vessel was later bought by Greenpeace and renamed Rainbow Warrior. In 1985 it was blown up by French Intelligence Service operatives in Auckland, New Zealand, killing one person on board. Danger, Wrecks and Loss of Life Life at sea is full of danger . Shipwrecks, war and accidents far from medial support mean our sea-faring families and friends risk their lives daily. Much has improved over the centuries, but the weather is still something we cannot control. This female figurehead, once a common sight on the bows of ships, adorned the Aberdeen-built clipper ship The Star of Tasmania. The Star of Tasmania, like other well- known Aberdeen built clipper ships of the mid-1800s operated between Australia and New Zealand in the wool trade. The ship was wrecked in 1868 on the Oamaru coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The figurehead reappeared in a nearby farm hedgerow in the 1950s – in use as a way to block a hole. It was purchased by the museum, finally returning to Aberdeen in 2003. This memorial card commemorates Harry Main from Park Street, Aberdeen. He was a stoker aboard the SS Hogarth. On 8 June 1918 the ship was carrying 650 tons of general cargo from London to Aberdeen when it was torpedoed off the Northumberland coast. Only one of the 27 crew, who all came from Aberdeen, survived. Piper Alpha was an oil platform in the North Sea about 190 km from Aberdeen. On the 6 July 1988 there was a catastrophic series of explosions that destroyed the installation, killing 167 workers. Artist, Sue Jane Taylor, who had spent time on the platform during 1987, was commissioned to create a memorial sculpture. The bronze sculpture features three figures and today stands in Hazlehead Park. This plaster maquette or model, on display in the Maritime Museum, shows a figure in an immersion suit that every offshore worker wears during the helicopter flight to and from the installations. .

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